Medical literature reveals that males at all ages sometimes inexplicably lose the capability of obtaining an erection for a variety of reasons and even without apparent reasons. In some cases there are psychological causes and in other cases physiological causes underlying the inability to obtain or maintain an erection. Regardless of the cause of impotency, however, in most cases the male maintains the desire and urge to indulge in intercourse.
Development of a penile erection is, of course, dependent on a complex interaction of psychological and physiological factors which are not clearly understood, however, the anatomical phenomena associated with successful erection are well known. The penis is composed of recital tissue arranged in three longitudinal columns bonded by fibrous tissue. Erectile tissue has a sponge-like structure containing cavernous spaces for being occupied by blood. These spaces are fed by arterioles and capillaries and are drained by small flow restricting veins. Muscle fibers traverse the walls of the spaces and surround their discharge veins. When the penis is induced to erect, arterioles feeding the spaces dilate, the muscle fibers around the spaces relax, and the muscle controlling the venous outlets contract to restrict blood discharge from the caverns. The cavernous spaces in the erectile tissue expand as blood is pumped through them at high pressure and the penis becomes hard and erect. Thus, the natural erection process is basically a matter of capturing and holding pressurized blood in the cavernous tissues of the penis.
Surgically implantable devices have been developed for enabling a male subject to simulate a natural penile erection. Typically, one or more longitudinally extending expandable sacs are implanted in the penis and connected through a fluid system having check valves to a fluid filled bulb that can be massaged externally for pumping the fluid into the sac to thereby simulate the natural process. Some implants cause permanent erections. Implantation of some of the artificial devices result in permanent destruction of the nerve and blood vessel passages such that a natural erection can never again be obtained. All the implant techniques require the subject to spend some time in a hospital. The hospital and surgical expense is known to be substantial.
In the prior art there are devices which can be applied externally of the penis for maintaining an erection. The device is called a pubis ring. It is intended for use primarily by those males who, when excited, can develop an erection but cannot maintain it for a long enough time to satisfy themselves and their mate during intercourse. The pubis ring is designed to keep the blood in the penis once it has been pressurized by natural reaction to sexual stimuli. It cannot help in cases where there is a minimal erection or none at all. The pubis ring comprises a loop whose opposite ends enter the opposite ends of a flexible sleeve. The two ends emerge together out of a radial hole in the sleeve. The loop is slipped back to the root of the penis at a time when the subject perceives as a result of prior experience that his erection is likely to be at its maximum even though he may remember that there were times in the past when it could become larger and more rigid. When a maximum erection is perceived, the cords of the loop are snubbed to trap the pressurized blood in the penis. The erection can then be maintained for its intended purpose. Disadvantages of the pubic ring are that it requires some dexterity to secure and focusing attention on the securing problem can be distracting enough to cause the tentative erection to disappear prior to usage.
Other elastic rings for maintaining an erection are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,539,980 and 4,628,915, issued to Chaney. Briefly stated, the basic form of the erection assisting device disclosed in these patents comprises a constriction ring having an elastic ring centered between two elastic loops which are attached to the periphery of the ring on its opposite sides or at the first and third quadrants of the ring. The loops are used to stretch the ring radially outwardly to enlarge its opening sufficiently for it to fit over the root of the penis where it is released and contracts to pinch off the blood vessels leading to and from the penis. The user must then massage blood forwardly into the penis by strokes applied with the hand and fingers beginning substantially rearwardly of the scrotum to thereby develop local blood pressure sufficient to overcome the sealing force of the ring and pressurize the caverns in the penis which results in an erection. Use of the elastic rings disclosed by Chaney requires dexterity on the part of the user to stretch the central ring quadrilaterally so it clears the outside of the penis as it is being applied. Thus, to facilitate the positioning of the elastic rings on the penis, Chaney also discloses a cone and cylindrical carrier sleeve mounting apparatus.
The patents to Chaney report that the elastic constriction ring and mounting devices not only help a male to maintain but also facilitate manually achieving an erection after the device has been deposited on the penis. This is accomplished by the male user pressing his hand in the groin or crotch area and massaging blood forwardly into the penis against the elastic pressure created by the elastic ring. When a massage stroke is terminated, the elastic ring acts to prevent outflow. After several massage strokes, enough blood will be manually forced into the penis and enough pressure will be developed to produce a lasting erection.
In an attempt to further automate the erection process, a vacuum therapy system has also been described which enhances the ability of a user to achieve an erection by applying a vacuum to the penis prior to placement of the constriction ring. Such a system is available as the VTU-1.TM. System available from Encore, Inc. Louisville, Ky. and is shown in FIGS. 1-8. FIGS. 14 show the separable components of a conventional vacuum therapy system for assisting in the attainment and maintenance of an erection. FIG. 1 shows a penile tube 1 which is typically a transparent plastic tube and has a guide post 4. A removal guide 2 is mounted circumferentially on the penile tube 1 and located to define a transfer sleeve 3 portion at one end of the penile tube 1. Shown in FIG. 2 is a constriction ring 9 having an elastic, preferably latex, center ring 10 which has a circular cross-section and has two finger-gripping loops 11 and 12 molded integrally with the central ring. FIG. 3 shows a mounting cone 15 which has conical portion 16 to facilitate sliding constriction ring 9 onto the transfer sleeve 3 of penile tube 1. Mounting cone 15 has a cylindrical end 17 located opposite conical portion 16. A vacuum pump 20 is shown in FIG. 4 and has handle 21, thumb grip 22, release valve 23, and seal 24.
FIG. 5 shows the components of FIGS. 1-4 after assembly which is accomplished by inserting the cylindrical end 17 of mounting cone 15 into the end of penile tube 1 having the transfer sleeve 3 and inserting the seal 24 of the vacuum pump 20 into the opposite end of the penile tube 1. FIG. 6 shows a constriction ring 9 in the process of being mounted onto transfer sleeve 3 of penile tube 1. This is accomplished by holding and pulling on loops 11 and 12 of constriction ring 9 to enlarge center ring 10 so that the constriction ring 9 may be slid over the conical portion 16 of mounting cone 15 and onto transfer sleeve 3. Upon removal of the mounting cone 15, the constriction ring 9 is mounted and ready for insertion upon a penis as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8.
Shown in FIG. 7 is a user having a flaccid penis inserted into the penile tube 1. A constriction ring 9 is mounted on transfer sleeve 3, as described above with respect to FIG. 6. The end of the penile tube 1 which contacts the body at the base of the penis is typically lubricated before inserting the penis in order to assist in sealing penile tube 1 against the user's body so that a vacuum may be drawn. By applying slight pressure to the penile tube 1 toward the body of the user and pumping handle 21 of vacuum pump 20, as shown, a vacuum is drawn in penile tube 1 to cause the penis to become engorged with blood, thus achieving an erection. The thumb grip 22 may be used to steady the vacuum system during pumping handle 21.
As soon as the desired erection has been achieved, the constriction ring 9 is then placed at the base of the penis to maintain the state of engorgement with blood. As shown in FIG. 8, this is accomplished while holding penile tube 1 tightly against the body of the user by rotating removal guide 2 in the direction of arrow A to force removal guide 2 to ride against guide post 4 and move removal guide 2 toward the user in the direction of arrow B. The movement of removal guide 2 toward the user in this manner forces constriction ring 9 to move off of the transfer sleeve 3 in the direction of arrow B and onto the base of the penis. Upon placing the constriction ring 9 on the penis, center ring 10 contracts onto the base or root of the erect penis to prevent outflow of venous blood drawn by the vacuum created within the penile tube 1.
The final step to permit the user to engage in sexual intercourse, is the removal the vacuum system from the body of the user. Although during the transfer of the constriction ring much of the vacuum within the penile tube 1 is lost, any vacuum remaining must be released. This is accomplished by depressing release valve 23 of vacuum pump 20 to permit the vacuum pump 20 and penile tube 1 to be removed from the body of the user.
This conventional vacuum therapy system, which is described above with respect to FIGS. 1-8, is difficult to use and has attendant deficiencies with respect to achieving and maintaining a satisfactory vacuum while placing a constriction ring on the penis. As a result, the conventional vacuum system requires dexterity on the part of the user and even with such dexterity, the resultant erection may not be maximized given that a satisfactory vacuum may not be achieved or maintained. Furthermore, because the conventional vacuum system requires additional attention on the part of the user, focusing attention to the use of the vacuum system may be distracting enough to cause the benefit of any natural ability to obtain an erection on the part of the user to be lost.
The present invention overcomes the limitations, difficulties, and shortcomings of these prior art devices by providing a conditioning apparatus which can be easily used to achieve and maintain an erection by sequentially applying a vacuum and placing a constriction ring to a penis while limiting vacuum loss prior to placement of the constriction ring.